dynamics

Assignment 3: Dynamics, organics, living relationship (due Week Seven, 4/11 + 4/13)

The third and last short assignment will be collaborative, as is appropriate for work focused on dynamics and relationship. You will work in small groups of 2-3 to devise, in class and for homework, work to be presented in class in Week Seven (4/11 + 4/13).

The focus of the work should be movement of some kind, in a biological organism or otherwise, on a scale which you determine. Keywords might be exchange, growth, juxtaposition, dialectic, metaphor, synthesis, hybridity, symbiosis, parasitism, circulation, reference, research, reach, read, read between the lines, interpret, embrace, spring, rejuvenation, clockwork, critique, partnership, scholarship, class, question / answer, call / response, open / close, intuition, interaction. *

The purpose of the assignment is to consider concepts of fluidity in relation to the library space and function: libraries are fundamentally sites of exchange, which can tend toward hoarding (of valuable materials), rationing (of loan periods), monitoring (fines, rules), degradation (of disrespected books, materials) on one hand, and utopianism, opportunity, egalitarianism, social responsibility on the other (free exchange of ideas, honor code). Libraries also have a special place in childhood, almost representing the key to autonomy (of imagination, time, inquiry), and the promise of self-directed time.

In Assignment 1, we considered color + language + library.  In Assignment 2, we considered sound + human voice + library.   This assignment addresses function.  What was/is the function of a library?  What is the function of poetry?  What is the function of collaboration?  All cases involve the mechanism of exchange.  But to what end?

You will be given one hour in class during Week Six to establish and sketch out your idea, which you will be expected to development as homework, before presenting during class in Week Seven.

In my assessment, I will privilege work which exhibits two central commitments of poetry

Economy
  • the work should be maximally efficient
  • it should do what it sets out to do with elegance and minimal waste, i.e., it should map perfectly onto its purpose
Address to audience
  • the work should be aware and deliberative of its environment
  • it should acknowledge and engage with its audience
* Generate group-specific list in class Week Six

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